Marriage Vacation

In season four of Darren Star’s hit TV Land series Younger, the editors at Empirical Press are shocked and deeply moved when they read Marriage Vacation, an autobiographical novel by the publisher’s estranged wife, Pauline Turner Brooks. Knowing the book will cause a sensation, they decide they must publish it. Now you can read what the hype is about.

Marriage Vacation is for anyone who has ever fantasized about what it would be like to run away from it all.

By all appearances, Kate Carmichael has the perfect life: two adorable daughters, a prewar townhouse on the Upper East Side, and a husband who runs one of the most successful publishing companies in New York.

But when Kate attends a wedding and reconnects with successful friends from graduate school, she suddenly sees her life in a different light: the career she didn’t pursue, the dreams she’s locked away, the empty veneer of her privilege.

When the wedding weekend ends, instead of heading home to her husband and family, Kate gets on a plane and flies halfway around the world. She claims it’s just going to be for a week—two max—just so she can clear her head and reconnect with her lost dreams. But the adventure doesn't go quite as planned.

This provocative and gripping novel asks: Is a wife and mother allowed to have a midlife crisis? And, if she does, can she ever be forgiven?

PRAISE FOR Marriage Vacation

“Marriage Vacation has everything you want an in a novel: fascinating characters, drama, secrets, emotional reckonings, and far-flung adventure. If you love Younger, you’ll love this book. If you’ve never watched an episode of Younger (you should change that), you’ll still love this book. And just wait until you read page 58!”
—Darren Star, creator of Sex and The City and Younger

“This brilliant romp helps us understand why Liza was so excited to discover the manuscript, how any woman could leave the dreamy Charles, and what exactly Pauline—by way of her fictional alter ego, Kate Carmichael—did on that mysterious Marriage Vacation. Pack this heartfelt, insightful, funny, sexy book when you take a vacation of your own.”
—Pamela Redmond Satran, author of Younger